Sustainability
Associate Research Professor Daniel Knight and Professor Michael Hannigan are leading an outreach program that connects CU Boulder students with rural high schools to introduce hands-on engineering experiences in the classroom. The initiative, known as the Science and Engineering Inquiry Collaborative (SCENIC), serves 12 schools and nearly 700 high school students across rural Colorado each year, turning local questions about air and soil quality into real-world research projects.
Many industrial facilities rely on cryogenic gases for processes such as cooling, materials testing or energy transport. But before those gases can be used, they must be vaporized with electricity-intensive equipment that can cost companies tens of thousands of dollars each year. A team of seniors are working to address that problem by developing a heat-exchange device for their senior capstone project that captures waste heat circulating through refrigeration systems.
“Women of Carbon,” featuring Associate Professor Mija Hubler, opens the Colorado Environmental Film Festival in Golden on Feb. 20. The documentary highlights women reshaping construction through sustainable innovation and decarbonization.
Dunphy's research involves studying interactions at the atomic level to design more efficient catalysts for polymer upcycling, an innovative approach for converting plastic wastes into valuable products, such as jet fuels.
Aoife Henry (PhDElEngr‘24) is leading Zentus, a startup she founded that addresses a critical challenge in the energy sector: how to prevent costly equipment failures that can bring wind and solar farms offline without warning.
CU Boulder researchers have developed a laser-based imaging method called stimulated Raman scattering to improve the performance of desalination plants by allowing real-time detection of membrane fouling. The advance could help make desalination more efficient and reliable as global demand for clean water rises.
Faculty member Carmen Pacheco is the architect behind the Food Engineering Graduate Certificate, one of CU Boulder's most innovative academic ventures. Launched in 2024, the program was designed to introduce engineering students to the science behind their favorite foods and career opportunities in the food industry, but it can also reinforce scientific concepts that students can apply to any engineering discipline.
Soil is comprised of an intricate network of bacteria and other microbes that humans depend on, but this complex environmental system is constantly shifting, making it difficult for scientists to measure. Associate Professor Gregory Whiting and his team of researchers are developing reliable, inexpensive and easy-to-deploy sensors that monitor soil in real time to help farmers optimize their use of fertilizers, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save money in the process.
Evan Thomas, director of CU Boulder’s Mortenson Center in Global Engineering and Resilience, is pioneering climate-financed clean water programs that have brought safe drinking water to over 5 million people in Africa. Using carbon credits to fund long-term maintenance and real-time water quality monitoring, the center aims to reach 3 million more people by 2030.
The process involves collecting failed or excess PLA prints, grinding them into small fragments and using a T-shirt press to flatten the fragments into durable flat sheets. These sheets serve as raw material for laser cutting projects.